Seat for an agricultural vehicle

ABSTRACT

A folding seat is provided for the cab of an agricultural vehicle. The seat is provided with a mounting bracket secured by bolts to an inclined -horizontal surface in the cab, such as part of the wheel arch. A seat member is pivotably mounted at its rear end on the mounting bracket for pivotal movement between a horizontal operative position and an inclined storage position in which the seat member lies against the mounting bracket. A stay is mounted to pivot between an operative position in which it extends vertically from the mounting bracket to the seat member in order to support the weight of the seat member on the mounting bracket and a storage position in which it lies between the mounting bracket and the seat member.

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/702,340, filed Oct. 31,2000.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a passenger seat for the cab of anagricultural vehicle, such as a tractor or a combine harvester.

Though an agricultural vehicle is ordinarily only driven by one person,it is on occasions necessary for a passenger to accompany the driver.This may for example occur when a new driver is under instruction. Asthe cabs of agricultural vehicles normally have only one seat, thepassenger must crouch in an uncomfortable position in order not tointerfere with the driver's control of the vehicle nor with hisvisibility.

As there is insufficient space in the cab of an agricultural vehicle fora permanent passenger seat, it has previously been proposed to provide afolding seat in the driver's cab. Furthermore, known folding seatsrequire a complicated two handed operation to effect the operation ofraising and folding the seat.

European Patent Publication No. A-0 430 905 discloses a folding seatthat can be fitted to a wheel arch or mudguard. A seat cushion isattached to the wheel arch by a U-shaped stay that can pivot relative tothe seat cushion at one end and relative to the mudguard at the otherend. The seat can be moved between a raised horizontal position in whichit can be used by a passenger and a lowered vertical position in whichit can be stored without obstructing the driver. In the raised position,the seat rests on the top of the wheel arch, which takes the weight ofthe passenger and is held in this position by means of a screw whichfits in a threaded bush in the mudguard.

Another known folding seat for the cab of an agricultural vehicle isdescribed in European Patent Publication No. A-0 646 492. This seatagain requires the cab to have a structure defining a horizontal supportsurface. The seat cushion is formed in two halves that are hinged to oneanother, allowing the seat cushion to be folded in two. The front end ofthe seat cushion is pivotably attached to a stay, the other of which ispivotably mounted on the side of the wheel arch. In its storageposition, the two halves of the seat cushion are folded over one anotherand they are stacked above the top of the wheel arch. The seat cushiondoes not protrude beyond the horizontal surface and does not thereforeinconvenience the driver. To enable the seat to be used, the cushion isunfolded so that one half rests on the horizontal support surface andthe other half projects from it and is support by the angled stay.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a folding seat for the cabof an agricultural vehicle which has a stay pivotable between anoperative position in which it extends vertically from the mountingbracket to the seat member in order to support the weight of the seatmember on the mounting bracket and a storage position in which it liesbetween the mounting bracket and the seat member.

It is a feature of this invention that the stay is pivotably secured tothe underside of the seat member and lies flat against the underside ofthe seat member in the storage position.

It is an advantage of this invention that a spring may bias the stayaway from the underside of the seat member into the operative position,in which the plane of the stay is normal to that of the underside of theseat member. A stop projecting from the underside of the seat member maybe provided to limit the movement of the stay under the action of thespring and thereby prevent the stay from overshooting its operativeposition.

For safety, it is desirable to provide the mounting bracket with a rampsurface over which the stay must ride prior to reaching the verticaloperative position. This is in order to prevent the stay from beingaccidentally dislodged when the seat is in use.

An operating handle may conveniently be secured to the stay to projectforward from the underside of the seat member, to ease manipulation ofthe stay while the seat is being folded away.

It is also preferred to provide a spring clip and ball stud forretaining the seat member against the mounting bracket when in thestorage position.

The mounting bracket may conveniently comprise a first plate, to bemounted on a non-horizontal surface in the cab, and a second platehaving an inverted “L” shape secured to or formed integrally with thefirst plate, the second plate having a horizontal limb connected alongits rear edge to the upper edge of the first plate and a vertical limbextending downwards from the front edge of the horizontal limb towardsthe first plate.

It is further preferred for the lower end of the first plate to be bentupwardly to form a flange having a recess for receiving and locating thestay in its operative position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described further, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the folding seat in its storageposition,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a folding seat of the invention inits operative position,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view from below and one side of the folding seatin its operative position,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view from below and the other side of thefolding seat in its operative position, and

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the folding seat in its operative position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In a tractor, it is common for all the primary controls to be situatedon the right hand side of the cab. The left side door is the sidecommonly used for entry into the cab and it is also on this side of thecab that it is preferred to mount a passenger seat. The passenger seatneeds to be foldable in order not to restrict access to the cab from theleft side door and also to allow for leg clearance when the driver'sseat is rotated to the left.

FIG. 1 shows a folding seat 10 of the invention mounted on an inclinedsurface 12 in a cab of an agricultural vehicle. The inclined surface 12in the drawing is the front of the arch that fits over the left rearwheel.

The seat 10 is formed of two padded or contoured seat members 14 and 16of which the smaller member 14 is permanently mounted in a horizontalattitude on the inclined surface 12 and the larger member 16 ispivotable between a lowered inclined storage position shown in FIG. 1and a horizontal operative position shown in FIG. 2. In the operativeposition, the seat can support the weight of a passenger.

The seat 10 is mounted next to a suitably contoured surface 18 whichprovides a degree of back support to the passenger.

As the wheel arch forms part of the frame 20 of the left hand door, itis important to note that in the storage position the seat does notprotrude significantly from the wheel arch with the result that it doesnot present a serious obstruction to the driver while entering the cabnor while sitting in the driver's seat.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be seen that both seat members14 and 16 are mounted on a bracket 22 that comprises a first plate 24that is secured to the wheel arch by means of bolts 25. When mounted,this plate is not horizontal. The bracket 22 also includes a secondplate 26 in the shape of an inverted “L” that is welded to the plate 24though it may alternatively be formed integrally with the first plate 24by appropriately bending a single sheet of metal.

The second plate 26 has a horizontal limb 26 b and a vertical limb 26 a.The horizontal limb 26 b is welded at its rear edge to the upper edge ofthe plate 24 and supports the smaller of the two seat members 14. At itsfront edge, the horizontal limb 26 b is attached by means of a hinge 28to the rear edge of a metal plate 50 secured by bolts 52 to theunderside of the larger seat member 16. The vertical limb 26 a of thesecond plate 26 extends downwards from the front edge of the horizontallimb 26 b to rest on the plate 24.

The larger pivotable seat member 16 is held in its operative positionshown in FIG. 3 and 4 by means of a generally triangular stay 30 havinga forwardly projecting operating handle 34. The stay is mounted on theunderside of the seat member 16 for pivotal movement about a hinge 32that is perpendicular to the hinge 28. A torsion spring 35 fitted aroundthe hinge 32 biases the stay 30 towards its vertical position, shown inFIGS. 3 and 4. A stop 54 projects from the underside of the seat member16 to limit the pivotal movement of the stay 30 so that it should notovershoot its vertical position. The stop may either be secured to themetal plate 50 or be constituted by a tab bent out of the metal plate.

The lower end of the plate 24 is formed with an upwardly bent flange 36that acts as a means for locating the stay 30,in its operative position.The flange 36 has a central cut-out 38 in which the stay is held when inits operative position, as shown in FIG. 4. The part of the flange 36 tothe right of the stay 30, as viewed, serves merely as a stop while thepart to the left has a ramped front edge 40 that serves to guide thestay as the seat is being raised.

A spring clip 42 on the underside of the larger seat member and a ballstud 44 on the plate 24 serve to hold the seat member 16 in its foldedposition to prevent it from rattling.

The described seat has the advantage that it can be both raised andlowered by the driver in a very simple manner and while using only onehand. To raise the seat from its storage position, the driver needs onlyto pull the seat member 16 upwards until it overshoots the horizontalposition slightly then to release it. The initial force meets with someresistance as the spring clip 42 separates from the ball stud 44. Thestay 30 then pivots anti-clockwise as viewed about the hinge 32 underthe action of its own weight and the torsion spring 35. As the seatmember 16 is raised beyond its horizontal position, the lower edge ofthe stay 30 rides over the ramp surface 40 until it reaches the recess38. When the seat member 16 is then released, the stay 30 drops into therecess and is firmly retained on both sides to provide strong supportfor the seat member 16.

To fold the seat away, the driver holds the handle 34 and raises it todisengage the stay 30 from the recess 38. The driver then bends the stay30 about its hinge 32 against the action of the spring 34 until it liesagainst the underside of the seat member 16. At this time, the seatmember 16 can be lowered about the hinge 28 into its storage positionand pushed down firmly to engage the spring clip 42 on the ball stud 44.

It will be understood that changes in the details, materials, steps andarrangements of parts which have been described and illustrated toexplain the nature of the invention will occur to and may be made bythose skilled in the art upon a reading of this disclosure within theprinciples and scope of the invention. The foregoing descriptionillustrates the preferred embodiment of the invention; however,concepts, as based upon the description, may be employed in otherembodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.Accordingly, the following claims are intended to protect the inventionbroadly as well as in the specific form shown.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:
 1. In anagricultural vehicle having a mobile frame and an operator cab supportedon said frame for locating operative controls for the agriculturalvehicle, a folding seat in combination with the agricultural vehiclecomprising: a mounting bracket, means for securing the mounting bracketto a non-horizontal surface in the cab, a seat member pivotably mountedat a rear end on the mounting bracket for pivotal movement between ahorizontal operative position and an inclined storage position in whichthe seat member lies against the mounting bracket, a stay pivotablysecured to the underside of the said seat member and pivotable betweenan operative position in which said stay extends vertically from themounting bracket to the seat member in order to support the weight ofthe seat member on the mounting bracket and a storage position in whichsaid stay lies flat against the underside of the seat member, a springprovided to bias the stay away from the underside of the seat memberinto the operative position, and a stop projecting from the underside ofthe seat member is provided to limit the movement of the stay under theaction of the spring and thereby preventing the stay from overshootingthe operative position.
 2. In an agricultural vehicle having a mobileframe and an operator cab supported on said frame for locating operativecontrols for the agricultural vehicle, a folding seat in combinationwith the agricultural vehicle comprising: a mounting bracket, means forsecuring the mounting bracket to a non-horizontal surface in the cab, aseat member pivotably mounted at a rear end on the mounting bracket forpivotal movement between a horizontal operative position and an inclinedstorage position in which the seat member lies against the mountingbracket, a stay pivotable between an operative position in which saidstay extends vertically from the mounting bracket to the seat member inorder to support the weight of the seat member on the mounting bracketand a storage position in which said stay lies between the mountingbracket and the seat member, and the mounting bracket is provided with aramp surface over which the stay must ride prior to reaching thevertical operative position.
 3. In an agricultural vehicle having amobile frame and an operator cab supported on said frame for locatingoperative controls for the agricultural vehicle, a folding seat incombination with the agricultural vehicle comprising: a mountingbracket, means for securing the mounting bracket to a non-horizontalsurface in the cab, a seat member pivotably mounted at a rear end on themounting bracket for pivotal movement between a horizontal operativeposition and an inclined storage position in which the seat member liesagainst the mounting bracket, a stay pivotable between an operativeposition in which said stay extends vertically from the mounting bracketto the seat member in order to support the weight of the seat member onthe mounting bracket and a storage position in which said stay liesbetween the mounting bracket and the seat member, and an operatinghandle is secured to the stay to project forward from the underside ofthe seat member.
 4. The combination of claim 3, wherein a spring clipand a ball stud are provided for retaining the seat member against themounting bracket when in the storage position.
 5. In an agriculturalvehicle having a mobile frame and an operator cab supported on saidframe for locating operative controls for the agricultural vehicle, afolding seat in combination with the agricultural vehicle comprising: amounting bracket comprising a first plate, to be mounted on anon-horizontal surface in the cab, and a second plate having an inverted“L” shape secured to or formed integrally with the first plate, thesecond plate having a horizontal limb connected along a rear edge of thesecond plate to the upper edge of the first plate and a vertical limbextending downwardly from the front edge of the horizontal limb towardsthe first plate, means for securing the mounting bracket to anon-horizontal surface in the cab, a seat member pivotably mounted at arear end on the mounting bracket for pivotal movement between ahorizontal operative position and an inclined storage position in whichthe seat member lies against the mounting bracket, and a stay pivotablebetween an operative position in which said stay extends vertically fromthe mounting bracket to the seat member in order to support the weightof the seat member on the mounting bracket and a storage position inwhich said stay lies between the mounting bracket and the seat member.6. The combination of claim 5, wherein the lower end of the first plateis bent upwardly to form a flange having a recess for receiving andlocating the stay in said operative position.